


Scent Memory

by InsidiousIntent



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex is happy to indulge, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Future Fic, Humor, Kyle is a Good Bro, Liz is a disaster scientist, M/M, Michael has a kink, Michael is oblivious, Scent Kink, Scents & Smells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:41:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25363279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsidiousIntent/pseuds/InsidiousIntent
Summary: It was a soft, subtle scent that surrounded him and made him freeze. The scent was woodsy and earthy, like the smell of soft grass in early summer mornings. Like the smell of wet earth after a thunderstorm.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 26
Kudos: 145





	Scent Memory

**Author's Note:**

> For Malex Week 2020, Day 5 - Smut. A day late is better than no posting, right? 
> 
> No beta, we die like men.

* * *

The group project was on day four, and Michael was getting a little tired of it. The Project Shepherd bunker was a little cramped, but it meant Michael didn’t have to walk too far to get to the bathroom. The downside was that he could hear Liz muttering to herself eight feet to his left, and Kyle was standing a little too close to Alex ten feet to his right. 

He should have left an hour ago, it was getting closer to dinner time and the group had been in various forms of concentration all day. Maybe it was the small space getting to him, maybe it was just the press of people around him. He wasn’t used to working in a group project setting. Yes, that’s what it was. 

He moved back to the file at hand, a distilled list of powers his people were discovered to have, without the added agony of revisiting all the torturous experiments that led to the discovery. He pushed the unnerving thought of the crowded space he was forced to work in out of his mind and returned to the task at hand. 

Michael was successful in focusing for another thirty minutes. He was still thirsty and the bottle of water next to him was empty. Sighing to himself, Michael grabbed the bottle and walked towards the small hallway of ancient lockers where Alex had installed a water filter. 

He walked past the desk where Alex and Kyle were almost fused into a cerberus looking thing, staring and muttering at a large pile of documents. He shook his head, tearing his gaze from Valenti’s exceptional looking ass and kept walking to the filter. 

It wasn’t until after Michael filled up his water bottle that he froze. Had he really thought of Valenti’s ass as  _ exceptional _ ? What the fuck. 

Michael walked back to his table slowly, feeling his heartbeat pick up for some reason. But it couldn’t possibly be from having Valenti’s over-gymmed ass in close proximity to himself. There was  **no** way. 

But Michael could feel his body reacting, the familiar zing of heat down his spine, the way his heart had been beating faster this whole time. He recognized the symptoms, but his mind couldn’t pinpoint the source. Michael’s heart felt like he’d run a marathon, sweat beginning to build up on his skin.

He drank the water down in a few gulps, trying to find a distraction from the heat and slow building arousal. Michael made his way back towards the water filter, the need to walk towards Alex and Kyle pulling at him. He walked slowly, trying to pay attention to his surroundings when the smell hit him. 

It was a soft, subtle scent that surrounded him and made him freeze. The scent was woodsy and earthy, like the smell of soft grass in early summer mornings. Like the smell of wet earth after a thunderstorm. 

_ Oh.  _

Michael closed his eyes and prayed to all generic media based religious entities that Valenti hadn’t switched his deodorant or something. 

“You ok, Guerin?” Alex’s voice right behind him made Michael jump a little. He whirled around to see both Alex and Kyle staring at him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“You’ve been standing there looking like a statue for five straight minutes,” Valenti piped up, and Michael’s glare at him was only half-hearted at best. 

“I was thinking,” Michael replied, thinking on his feet, “I know that’s a foreign concept to gymrats like you.” 

Valenti’s eye roll was expected, but Michael didn’t expect Alex to do the same. Instead of responding, Kyle turned and slapped Alex’s shoulder. 

“This one is your problem now, I’m going home to get some sleep,” he said. “Ortecho, you too, move it.”

Liz’s head whipped up and Michael saw how red her eyes were.  _ Dang _ , they really needed to keep an eye on the crazy scientists, before Max murdered them for letting Liz get sick. 

“Uh, yeah, I should also go I think. I’m starting to see double,” Liz replied, swaying a little as she grabbed her jacket. 

Alex quickly walked over to help her with her bag and jacket. “Kyle, make sure Rosa knows that Liz needs sleep.” He helped Liz walk over to Kyle, who quickly put an arm around her. “And I’ll talk to you in two days.” 

Michael didn’t do anything but stay in place as the mad scientist duo walked out of the lab. He tilted his head, and tried to see if Valenti’s walk did anything to change how he was feeling. And that’s the only reason he would give for not noticing Alex coming up to stand next to him. 

“Alright, Guerin,” Alex’s voice sounded mild but Michael knew better. “Talk.”

“Um, what?” he said. 

“Don’t  _ what  _ me, Michael,” Alex said. “You were eyeing Kyle as if he was going to shoplift the Project Shepherd files right out of here.” His voice turned a little cold then, “and right then you were most definitely checking out his ass. What’s going on with you?”

Michael tried to pay attention to the words Alex was saying, but his mind and body were racing. He wasn’t reacting to Valenti, it was  _ Alex _ . Alex somehow smelled different, and Michael’s entire being had become attuned to the difference, reacting to it. 

“Why do you smell like that?” he blurted out instead. 

Alex looked a little taken aback, but it was a fleeting expression. “What do you mean? Smell like what?”

Michael’s brain realized the right words were not being said here, so his body had to put in some work too. He turned to face Alex and slowly but without hesitation, ran a hand down Alex’s arm to grab his wrist. Michael watched Alex’s face carefully as he brought the wrist up to his lips. 

Eyes now closed, Michael let his senses flood through - the feel of Alex’s soft skin against his lips, that tantalizing scent surrounding them. He pressed his lips to the wrist, inhaling deeply, and in the silence of the bunker, the soft responding gasp from Alex echoed loudly. 

“Michael,” Alex’s voice was barely a whisper. Michael opened his eyes and tilted his head, taking in Alex’s flushed high cheeks, and dilated pupils. 

“You smell like  _ me _ ,” Michael said, lips brushing the delicate skin of Alex’s wrist. Alex’s lips parted and Michael felt his pulse thundering against his lips. 

“I think it’s my-” Alex didn’t get to finish, pulled up to Michael’s chest. Michael’s whole body was singing, Alex was in his grasp, and he wasn’t going to let go. 

All he could say was  _ mine  _ before he kissed Alex hard. 

He couldn’t help himself from the wet desperate slant of his mouth on Alex’s, tongues tangling and heated breaths mingling. Alex kissed back with equal force, clumsy and desperate in equal measures. It wasn’t a graceful kiss, but it felt better than any kiss Michael had felt in a long long time, sinking into his bones and lighting him up from the inside. 

Michael curled his fingers into Alex’s thick hair, giving into the kiss. But then out of nowhere, Alex pulled back. 

“Guerin, are you sure about this?” Alex’s voice was so hesitant, so soft, Michael hurt. He had wasted too much time, too much energy on tragedy, and not enough on making Alex feel loved. But now he had started, he wasn’t going to stop. 

Instead of replying he pushed into Alex’s space, fitting his lips over Alex’s in a smooth motion. Alex’s mouth was slick and hot, moving to fit at a different angle than before and Michael arched into him, Alex’s hand tight on the small of his back.

“Alex,” Michael said, incoherent with desire and feeling honey warm like he was slowly getting drunk on the best whiskey. The kiss deepened somehow, both their bodies curved as one. The bunker was filled with sounds of their lips, obscene and loud in the silence. Michael made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan, and put both his arms around Alex’s neck. 

“ _ Oh god _ ,” Michael panted when Alex broke away briefly to trail hot kisses down his neck, fastening his mouth to the delicate skin over Michael’s pulse point, “oh god, that’s—don’t stop, just— _ fuck _ .” Why weren’t they in bed already?

He tightened his fingers in Alex’s hair and pulled him up again, capturing Alex’s mouth. He’d never kissed anyone like this, not during the years he threw himself at every willing warm body while he pined for Alex. Only Alex’s kisses were fierce and frantic and messy, hands everywhere, kissing like  _ fucking _ , like they were already naked and grasping at each other in bed, like Alex wanted to take him the fuck apart, fuck him into the mattress, come inside. 

Alex’s scent was like a warm blanket around him, enveloping him from inside out. 

He had no idea when his hands unbuckled Alex’s jeans, but he wasn’t complaining when Alex’s breath hitched, Michael’s fingers skimming the hard length of his cock.

“Michael,” Alex whispered, fumbling to unbutton Michael’s jeans, desperate to get his hands on Michael too. The desire to be closer, to have more skin on skin, burned through Michael. He needed to get his hands on Alex,  _ everywhere _ . He knocked Alex’s hand away, pushing down his own pants and pulling Alex closer, taking them both in hand. The touch of hot hard skin on skin made them both groan, making Michael rub up against Alex a little faster. 

He could feel Alex starting to shake a little, standing in the middle of a bunker, hands clinging on to Michael’s shoulders. Michael’s entire focus was narrowed down to where his cock was sliding in delicious friction against Alex’s cock, the only anchor keeping him from flying apart. Michael wondered if he could hold them in this moment, an amber casing around the feeling of teetering on the edge, savoring the slide of skin against skin, lips against lips. 

But Michael had been on the edge all day, and from the quiet huffs of choked off moans from Alex, the edge was coming up soon. 

Without any warning Michael came, spilling hot against his hand and on Alex’s cock, making Alex bite off a “ _ Michael! _ ” against his lips before he was coming too. 

They stayed clinging on to each other for a few moments, just breathing together in the quiet. Eventually Alex pushed him back and reached behind him, hands thumping around to grab one of the boxes of tissues they kept around the bunker. Handing tissues to Michael, they both cleaned up and buttoned up in relative silence. 

Alex looked up at Michael as he turned from throwing the tissues in the trash. “So I guess you like the new body wash I got, Guerin,” Alex said, his smirk not doing enough to hide the uncertainty Michael could hear in his voice. 

He walked up and put his arms around Alex, making sure to tuck his fingers in Alex’s back pockets. Grinning, he placed three quick but chaste pecks on Alex’s lips. 

“I like  _ all  _ of you, Alex,” he said. 

Alex’s responding smile was like a slow and warm sunrise, and Michael promised himself to never stop making Alex smile like that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://insidious-intent.tumblr.com/)


End file.
